For a candidate who vows to fight on until the Tampa convention, with many miles to go before a nominee is selected, his operation here and in the next few states after this isn’t likely to inspire much confidence in his ability to compete with Mitt Romney.

With just one day to go before the Nevada caucuses, his campaign isn’t using its most potent weapon: Gingrich himself. The former House speaker used to hold daily press conferences to beat up on Mitt Romney, but did only one this week. The drumbeat of daily appearances has slowed dramatically.

The campaign is mostly bumbling around the Silver State, scheduling events only to cancel them, spending virtually nothing on advertising or infrastructure and demonstrating an inability to drive a message. He hasn’t been endorsed by a single Nevada elected official and there are serious tensions between his state and national staff over scheduling.

“It shows how difficult it is to put a quick organization and quick schedule together and try to make the most of a four-day campaign,” Las Vegas-based GOP strategist Robert S. Uithoven said. “It’s a four-year campaign versus a four-day campaign here in Nevada.”

In an ominous sign for Gingrich, the problem isn’t confined to Nevada. He’s also flying by the seat of his pants in the next round of states that will vote on Tuesday — Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. He doesn’t have much infrastructure in the first two states — Gingrich hired a spokesman Thursday in Colorado — and isn’t even on the ballot in Missouri. His campaign has been unable to say if he’ll even visit those states ahead of their votes.

The first sign of real trouble came the day after the Florida primary, when Gingrich canceled a scheduled photo op with Nevada’s Brian Sandoval, the popular first-term Republican governor.

Gingrich told reporters on Wednesday that the mishap was a scheduling issue and that his campaign was working to find another time.

“Once that meeting was confirmed, I think it was a very poor move,” said Uithoven, referring to the embarrassing snafu.

Then came early word from sources close to Gingrich — reported by POLITICO and other prominent news organizations — that Trump would endorse Gingrich at one of his Vegas casinos on Thursday. Asked about it on Wednesday, Gingrich was upbeat. But it turned out the reports were wrong and Trump instead endorsed Romney. Gingrich, while touring a equipment manufacturing facility, seemed downtrodden.